Hand truck



HAND TRUCK Filed Oct. 26, 1943 GEORGE L. AUSTIN INVENTQR o Bywffa A TTORNE Y Patented Aug. 14, 1945 HANDTRUOK, a,

. p j GeorgeL. Austin, Seattle;

-- Athenian October- 26, 1943, Serial No. 507,677

' I 3Claims. (o1. 214 65. 1) i ed. toswing'about' a loose pivot and'means are invention relates to. ahand truck and, more particularly, to a hand truck of the type having gripping means for engaging a cylindrical obiecttobetransported. 7 a

.Inthose industries where bottled gas is used itis customary to employheavy metallic cylinders designedto contain thegasses underpressure.

' The handling of'such cyllndersis normally a difficult coperationldue to the weighta'nd unwieldiness, oi-thefcylinders but also I dueto the smoothness ,of their]exteriors, wher'eby' there are few hand h'olds, or there is little means whereby they may be manually gripped 'forandduring' move:

ment. In the prior art there are shown various attempts that have been made to solve this problem but the'idevices there disclosedffail in one or more respects to adequately meet'the problem.

Too often the prime criticism lies in the fact that either'the gripping means employed are ineffective or they depend upon almost super-human strength in the'operator toperform the job.

Having in mind the defects of the priorart, it is an important object of this invention to provide a handtruck adapted by and including gripping means for the engagement of a gas cylinder which means will effectively hold the same during transport without; requiring the exertion of force by the operator tomaintain the gripping efieet.

It islanother object of thisinVentiontO'pro vide; in a hand truck of the type mentioned, grip pingmeansthat are, actuated largely through th weight of theobjectteing ri ped. .A still furtherobiect 201' this invention islthe provision, man article-gripping hand truck,'of

simple and efficient means for'gripping acylinder and which are not deleteriously afiected by hard gage a cylinder and producea tendency to The -foregoing ohjects andfoth'er ancillary theretolpr'eferto accomplishes inflows: a

, vAcwnling to a 7 preferred embodiment of [my invention, I v mount gripping means upon a con yentionaltypc hand, truck; in which there is'a frame havingflowerwheels and upper handles whereby ,th'eQtrhck may he movedv from them:-

right to theportable positionaswell as'trundled over the floor. In one prime exceptionmy truck varies iromthe conventional in that thexusual foot plate to engage under the object to be transported is eliminated as being unnecessary. In that form of the truck designed for thetransport of two gas cylinders at a time, a medial horn stands out On the front of the hand truck frame and on either side in opposition thereto is mounted a movable jaw which coacts with the horn to grip the object. Each such movable jaw is mounthere thereto undercertain circumstance to be more specifically described hereafterl' such' being the case when a cylinder isengaged betweeri the horn and one of the movable jaws'theoperator their moves the movable arm 'downward where-' upon it is urged: inwardagainst the side" of the cylinder intofrictional contact bythe action of 'thecam facedmember. Next the hand truckis tipped back on itstwh'eels' and the tendency- 0f the cylinder I to s'lid'e along the frame is' absorbed in 'the frictionallyengaged jaw which :is drawn farther downward to be urged tightly inward by the cam member; Thereafter the truc'kmay be moved around in other than upright positions without "the cylinder 'bein'g dislodged. Tofree the cylinder andthe truck all that need .be done is to placethe same tothe uprightposition where thebottom of the cylinders areplaced upon the floor surface "again and the weight of the truck will tend to dislodge the cam pressed jaws from about the cylinder andthetruck will comefreei 'I'he novel features that I considergcharacter istic ofiny inventionware set forth with-particularlty inqthe appended claims." The invention;it self, "however, both as to its organization and-its methodzof operation, together with additional ob-a iects and advantages'thereof, will best 'beiundere stood from the followingdescriptionof a'specific embodiment when/read in connection withtheiace companyingdrawihg, inwhich a a 2'1 Figure 1=is a view side elevation ofimy-harid truck with a cylinder about tote engaged,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary viewin side elevae tion illustrating the-manner of gripping of .;a-

cylinder; Figure '3 is a top'viewot the truck'and twlo cylindera and Figure-dis an enla'ged detail view of'the'ca-m faced member illustrating the -r'node whereby i t urged the movable arm into gripping lE position.

A hand truck to overcome the defects hereinbefore enumerated must have at least two totally distinct characteristics; it must be capable of gripping for lifting a smooth cylindrical surface with the minimum of labor on thepart of an operator; and it must be operable to release the gripping action upon the return of the cyl- 7 side members l6, l and a suitable number of intermediate cross members l2, as well as the foot member l4. The upper end of each side member I0 is curved rearwardly to form a ban-- tile, as l6, l6. The numeral [8 designates legs;

on the back side of the frame and wheels l9, 1'9,

are journalled in suitable bearings mounted upon' a the lower leg members 20.

It is particularly to be noted that the frame does not have as usual a ledge or shelf-on the. lower edge customarily found in hand trucks and insertable under the load to be lifted since'such is unnecessary in my device. e In the middle of the frame and at an upper upon a cross bar 22 that spans the two side mem-- bers adjacentthe handle. portions l6. On either side of fixed horn and along the side of the frame is swingably mounted the gripping arm or l w 26,26. The pins 28 form a loose pivot for each of the arms 26 and aresupported-by an offset arm 30 carried by the frame. l a On the underside of each'handle; l6 ispivotally mounted a bell-crank lever 32 one; arm,,33 :of which lies close to the handle I6- and the other stands out slightly to the rear'from. the pivot 34. A rigid link 36'connects the lower arm 38 of the bell-crank to-the rear of .arm26; A spring 39 between arm 33; and handle l3 resilientlyholds the two apart and applies slight downward-spreesure upon the link 36 and thearm 26. 1 v r On the frame side members l0 and'alongside. of the arms 26 is a hook or clip 40 having acam-j face 42 against which the arm 26,:is forcedgin downward movement to the gripping position 1 The ends of arms 26, 26 and horn are pointed Accordingly, a preferred form of l to permit easy insertion of those members between closelyv stacked banks of cylinderswhereb paired cylinders would be forcedapart:

In using thetruck to grip a pair of cylinders c, c the operator runs the truck up to the cylinders and tips it upright whereupon it stands upon the lower face of foot bar in anupright posi-' Each cylinderwill tion alongside the cylinders.

engage'one sideof the fixed horn and'sth'e other,

sideof' eachcyli'nder will be contacted by a mov able arm 26. Initially this contact'wilrbe but loose and therewill' be no gripping-of-rthe' cylinders untilthe' operator grasps arms 33 of the bell-crank actuator levers 32 and draws-upon the links 36 to lift the rear endof arm 26 and force the friction pads 44; oneof. which is on eacharm 26, against the face of the='cylinde'r.""At that moment the cylinder is-gripped fairly tightly due to the inward forcing action produced 'bythe cam face 42 upon arm 26 as shown in Figure 4; In moving the cylinders it is normal next 'totip the hand truck from'the position of Figure 1 to that shown in Figure 2 and, when that-is done;

the cylinder will shift slightly downward as indicated in the drawing by referenceto: the relative position ofthe bottom of. the cylinders and relative the cylinders. -,downward movement of pivot 28 will cause the 20 point thereon I mount a fixed horn. 25 formed I y the cylinders and truck to the upright position.

It will be observed that the bottom of the truck isslightly above the floor since the tightly gripping jaws 26. will hold it there until slight additional force is applied to force the truck down When that is down the arm 26 to swing relative the horn 46 and the arms 26 will be freed from'the cylinders and the truck maybe moved away.

jItw'ill be apparent 'that'the device works equally Well with one cylinder as-withtwo and itshould beobv ious tha t atruck'may be designed embodyingthfe "principles'bf this invention but to accommodate'only asinglecylinder at a time. In the latter case onearm 26an d 'a' fh'ced arm as 24 is'all that is needed to produce'the effective gripping means. Although I have shown and describedfce rtaih specific embodiments of my invention, I gfully aware that many modifications,thereoffarepossible.

1. A h nd qtruck,comprising; a framehaving lower wheels and upper handle ,means, fixed means;on;said frameto. engage af-sideof an object to-betransported, an arm disposed fore and! aft on said frame in opposition tov said fixed meansrand torengage theother side of such an object, said-arm; being pivoted to said frame, a cam surfaceonsaid frame operable upon the forward partvof jsaidv arm when, the latter is moved :downward to urge the same, inward 1 into grippingengagement. upon such an, object side, and 'means adjacent the handlemeans of said frame to'urgeethearm downward." 1. .l r l 2. Ahan'd-truck-comprising? a frame having lower wheels. and upper handle means, a horn on said 'frame to e ngage one side of an object to be transported-by said truck; an arm disposed for and' a'ft in opposition t'o-said horn to en-- eag the other s' idei'o fsuch a n' object, said arm being piveteag'ts' said frame, "and cam means between said 'fr'ame' and arm and operable upon downward pivotal movement of the forward part of said arm to win the same toward the" horn in gripping'action uponan objecttherebetween. 3. a handitruck, a two wheeled frame havingapiyoted 'fore and ,aft arm foe-lie alongside an object to begn'oved upon the truclfand a cam surface on aid fra e; operable .upon the forward portion of"s1aid', arm when the' 1atter"is' moved downwardf tdll i the same inward intof gripine e e' m wrbnsuc a obi id e 1 @GE RG L. AUSTIN. 

